The Unsung Horns: Dick Cuthell

Horn player and record producer, Dick Cuthell, discusses the instruments that have influenced his life in music

When I was a kid, I was left some money in a will by some old ladies from church and bought a trumpet but, eventually, I thought: ‘I’m fed up of this trumpet. It’s too sharp, too brash’, so I got rid of it. I couldn’t afford the trumpet that I really wanted, but then I fell in love with a flugelhorn, a beautiful French one, and I didn’t bother with the trumpet anymore.

Eventually, it got trashed when I was touring with The Specials in Japan and the crowd rushed the stage. People let off fire extinguishers and we were choking, coughing our guts up. Afterwards, I remember the stage manager taking me backstage where my horn was lying in pieces under a blanket like a dead body. In 1970 musicians started asking me for more of a bright brass sound [on their records]; I went out and bought this Vincent Bach Stradivarius cornet. I’ve played this on lots and lots of stuff: Eurythmics, Madness and The Specials – this is ‘Ghost Town’, right here.

This cornet sounds totally different; it has got character to it, with it being old. It’s not really perfect, like the intonation is with new instruments, so you know, it might sound a bit wonky here and there. But that’s the instrument.

Dick Cuthell is a British horn player and record producer who has worked with The Specials, Bob Marley and Rico Rodriguez. This article is taken from PORT issue 19, out now.